Cardinal girls battle to the end in loss to No. 3 Tigers

GRINNELL — Working through the gauntlet known as the Little Hawkeye Conference, Newton High’s girls have shown no quit during the basketball season. The top five teams in the conference are ranked — three in Class 4A, one in Class 5A and one in Class 2A.

“We are playing some decent basketball right now,” Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said. “We just have to stay focused on getting better each day.”

Ringing up a season-high 10 3-point field goals, the Cardinals kept charging against host Class 4A No. 3 Grinnell Friday night. The Tigers kept their lead, pulling away for a 70-58 victory in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

The Cardinals were within six points, 42-36, with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter after trailing 35-20 at halftime. Enter Sienna Durr, who came off the bench to play for Grinnell after serving a four-game suspension.

Durr scored 12 of the next 13 points for Grinnell in a 13-3 run for the Tigers spanning into the first couple minutes of the fourth quarter. Grinnell led 49-39 after three periods and pushed it to a 55-39.

Newton faced a 60-43 deficit in the fourth quarter when Randi Walters hit her second 3-pointer of the game. It was 65-46 and Newton had a 12-3 run to get within 10 points, 68-58 with less than a minute remaining in the game.

Ryanne Rausch, who led Newton with 17 points and six rebounds, had a basket in that run as did Ellie Horn. Marcelina Marvelli had back-to-back 3-pointers followed by two free throws by Rausch in the middle of the run.

Newton led 3-2 on a trey by Walters early then the Tigers ripped off eight straight points. Rausch hit a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game, 10-8, but Durr scored four unanswered for Grinnell for a 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Taylor Shipley drained a trey to open the second quarter to cut it to three points, 14-11. Grinnell outscored Newton 21-9 the rest of the way for a 35-20 halftime advantage.

Newton came out and took it right to Grinnell in the third quarter with a 16-7 scoring surge to pull to within six points. Newton was 10-of-26 from 3-point range, shooting 38 percent, 21-of-55, from the field overall. The Cardinals were 6-of-9 at the free-throw line.

“I’m very proud of how we competed in the second half,” Sharp said. “Our response and approach to mistakes were much better in the second half than in the first. Our players really came together and rallied around each other.”

Courtney Jacobsen and Marvelli each hit three 3-pointers in the game for nine points. Walters had nine points. Horn had seven points, five rebounds and one steal. Rausch, Shipley and Horn each had three assists.

Durr finished with 24 points for Grinnell. Kameron Moore added 18 points. The Tigers went 12-of-18 at the line.

Newton’s junior varsity lost 45-11 to Grinnell. Abbie Barr scored 6 points for Newton.

Newton dropped to 2-8 in LHC play. The Cardinals (5-11) on Monday they travel to Chariton in non-conference play. On Tuesday, the Cardinals play at 6:15 p.m. at home against Oskaloosa in LHC action.

Newton 8-12-19-19—58

Grinnell 14-21-14-21—70

Newton (FG/3-pt): Rausch 5/1-4-3-17, Forsyth 0-0-4-0, Walters 1/2-1-5-9, Marvelli 0/3-0-1-9, Shipley 0/1-0-1-3, Jacobsen 0/3-0-1-9, Horn 3-1-3-7, Bestell 2-0-1-4. TOTALS: 11/10-6-19-58.

Grinnell (FG/3-pt): Harris 1/1-0-3-3, Jackson 0-1-0-1, Wilkins 3/1-0-1-9, Doty 0/1-2-1-5, Moore 3/3-3-0-18, Durr 10-4-2-24, Hungerford 2-2-3-6, Hulsing 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 20/6-12-10-70.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
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or jsheets@newtondailynews.com